Happier Times
by AraneltheFair
Summary: Loki and Sigyn wake up to find that their their sons are up to mischief - again. But things are not really what they appear to be...


Loki and Sigyn were woken by the sound of crashing glass from their living room, followed by a loud shout of "Nari, that was mother's favourite vase! You are so dead!"

Loki buried his nose in Sigyn's hair and deeply inhaled her scent.

"Sigyn, the boys are at it again."

His wife snuggled up closer to him, but she did not open her eyes and only made a soft disapproving sound. Loki thought about getting up and looking what their sons had gotten up to again, but he was so comfortable with his arms wrapped around Sigyn that he abandoned the thought.

"On the other hand, maybe I don't want to know."

Together they turned so that Loki lay on his back and Sigyn was nestled into his arm, with her head upon his bare chest and her legs wrapped around his. She sleepily opened her eyes and gazed up at him. Loki gave her a soft kiss upon the crown of her head, but he did not attempt to speak. He had learned a long time ago that Sigyn was not a morning person. She needed her time to wake up. But he had come to enjoy these quiet moments in the morning with Sigyn snuggled up to him, when he had time to think about everything and nothing.

They were startled by a second sound, metal on stone this time.

"Vali, you know we're not supposed to touch father's helmet!"

Sigyn looked at Loki.

"Ehm, maybe you should go and have a look."

With a low groan Loki wriggled out from under her, grabbed his shirt on the way out and yanked it over his head. Sigyn had to suppress a chuckle. Loki's hair always stood out at the oddest angles after he got out of bed.

When Loki reached the living room, he was greeted by the sight of his two six-year old sons wrestling over his helmet. Being twins, they were difficult to distinguish for outsiders, but Loki and Sigyn could always tell them apart. Both looked almost like miniature versions of their father, except for the golden eyes they had inherited from their mother. Loki strode over to the boys, grabbed each of them by one leg and let them dangle upside down. This action was greeted with ecstatic squeals that intensified after he shook them gently.

"How many times do I have to tell you to leave my helmet alone?"

"We're sorry, father." squealed the little boy hanging down from his right hand.

"Yes, we will not do it again." assured his brother who could hardly speak because he was laughing so hard.

Loki shook them again, just for good measure, then he set them down. After a quick glance and a nod the twins abruptly lunged at their father's legs with mighty war cries. Taken slightly unaware Loki was thrown off balance. Joining in his sons' game, he let himself fall down, making sure in the process that the boys did not hurt themselves in their overeagerness. He allowed them to crawl over him and pin him down, while they continued to make a racket like a dozen Einherjar.

"Now, do I have to come and rescue your father from you two mighty warriors?"

Loki turned his head sideward and saw Sigyn stand in the doorframe to their bedroom, a green blanket over her thin nightgown. Vali, who grabbed his father's legs, shook his head.

"No mother, we can handle this alone."

Nari tried to make an important face while sitting on his father's chest, but he ended up looking more cute than intimidating.

"Do you yield?"

Loki had to suppress the laughter that was building inside him and tried to keep a straight face.

"I yield, oh mighty warriors."

Vali peered over his brother's shoulder.

"What do we get now? Every warrior gets something after he defeated a dangerous foe."

Loki pretended to rack his brain for an answer.

"How about… we go down to the market later and I get you each a honey cake?"

The answer were two high-pitched squeaks, so apparently his proposal was met with approval. The boys finally clambered down from their father. The God of Mischief stood up, made a show of dusting himself off and slowly strode over to his wife who was grinning widely.

"Now, what are you going to do after you were defeated in such epic combat?"

By now Loki stood directly in front of Sigyn and looked down at her with blazing eyes. When he spoke, his voice was purposely deeper than its usual pitch and wrapped around her like silk and velvet.

"I am thinking about going to my loyal little wife so that she can kiss away my shame."

The snow-haired woman mockingly raised an eyebrow at him.

"And you think she will do that?"

"Well, I have my means to persuade her."

Loki then captured Sigyn's lips in a searing kiss, his hands trailing lightly over her sides. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, dragging him in closer. They were interrupted by a twofold 'Ewww' from their sons.

Nari whispered to his brother in a rather loud voice.

"Why do grown-ups always have to do this kissing thing? Mother and Father do it all the time and Uncle Thor and Auntie Jane, too."

Vali replied in an equally loud susurration.

"I don't know. But I also don't want to know."

Loki smiled into the crook of Sigyn's neck, tickling her under the chin with his nose.

"Oh no, let's go, Nari. Maybe Magni is awake already and we can play at being mighty warriors again."

"Good idea. Mother, we're going to visit Magni."

Sigyn cranked her head to look past Loki at her sons. Their idea did not come as a surprise, since they spent most of their time with Thor's and Jane's son anyway.

"Just remember to be nice to your Aunt Jane, if you see her. Her baby is due within the next two weeks and she needs rest."

The boys shouted their compliance and were out of the door within a moment. Loki furrowed his brow and looked at his wife questioningly.

"Is it truly Jane's time so soon already?"

"Of course. Why else do you think Thor is trudging around with such a worried expression?"

It had come as quite a surprise for all of them when seven years ago Thor had declared that he wanted to marry the Midgardian woman that he had met during one of his stays on Earth, apparently as she ran him over with something called a 'car'. Although Jane always claimed it was an accident, Loki suspected it was actually some kind of bizarre mating ritual on Midgard because Jane's friend Darcy had done the exact same thing to Fandral only a week later, combined with an attack by something she called a 'taser'. Despite their unorthodox meeting Thor and Jane loved each other deeply and Jane had settled into Asgardian life much quicker than anyone had hoped. She still missed Midgard and would travel there frequently, but by now she saw Asgard as her home, especially after Odin had granted her one of the Golden Apples of Idunn. She had, however, not discarded her scientific curiosity and would still try to find explanations for all the magical happenings around her. In this she was often helped by Sigyn, magic and science working together to unravel the secrets of the world.

"I am still amazed that Thor really has found a woman that can stand his pigheadedness."

"Why does that surprise you? I stand _you_, and you are much worse than your brother."

"Oh really, is that so?"

A dangerous glint appeared in Loki's eyes. Without a warning he scooped Sigyn up and carried his feebly protesting wife into their bedroom.

"Well, then I guess I have to show you how bad I actually am."

.

.

.

Loki opened his eyes. For a blissful moment his mind did not yet take in his surroundings. But then the dream melted away and everything became clear. The three solid, stark white walls of his cell. The transparent barrier with the inlaid golden runes. The stool, the small table with his books.

Loki sat up and buried his face in his hands. The images still flickered through his mind. Sigyn, whose face he knew better than his own. Their sons that should have been and never were. The happiness he had felt surrounded by his family.

He often wondered if it could have been like that: if Sigyn had lived, if he had never known about his true parentage. Could he have been happy? He spent many of his waking hours pondering about this and never found an answer. And in his sleep the dreams came, always different and yet always the same. Dreams of his family, of a future that could have been.

It was almost a year now that he was imprisoned after his foiled attempt to conquer Midgard and he feared that he finally went mad. He dreaded sleep and yet he wanted to fall asleep and never wake up. He wondered if they would notice. Odin had never visited him, neither had Thor. Only Frigga, his not-mother, kept coming to see him, though only as a projection, never in person. Still she had noticed that something was different since the dreams began. She had asked, but he had not told her. Frigga would only pity him and he did not need pity. He needed something to do, something to occupy his mind. But there was nothing. Only sitting and waiting, reading the few books he was granted and pacing the small space of his cell. And thinking of Sigyn and of happier times.

* * *

**Author's Note**: _Sigyn is my OC, although she takes her name from Loki's wife in North Mythology. In my headcanon she and Loki were very much in love about a hundred years or so before the events of the first Thor Movie. But she died in order to save him from an attack and that was one of the things that sent him down the road to become the dark and troubled character he is now._

Constructive criticism is always welcome, since English is not my native language ;)


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